The invention relates to a crankshaft with hollow pins having through-apertures emerging in the crank webs.
For reasons of costs, such crankshafts are used to an increasing extent to reduce weight, inertia moments, and to save material. The shafts may be cast or forged with through-apertures from the start, or the apertures may be drilled in subsequently, and they may be produced in one single part or in individual portions joined subsequently.
Crankshafts of the above type, even more so than conventional solid crankshafts, are subject to the problems of an insufficient bending and torsional strength under high loads and to the risk of crack formation in the region of the pin projections at the crank webs. This risk is intensified by the possibility of deformation of the hollow pin cross-section under the influence of gas forces and centrifugal forces.